


Empty Shells

by hallowed-vessels (hasbeenhotel)



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I apologize in advance, Made for void-dreamer on tumblr, There i made it happier, also why doesnt NKG have a tag, and mainly inspired by their night of nosk tag, grimmchild angst, nkg will happily die for his vessels, or does he have one and ao3 is just being silly?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-06-29 23:23:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19840684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hasbeenhotel/pseuds/hallowed-vessels
Summary: The ritual had been completed. The previous Grimm was dead, he had to be.So why was he standing in front of them?





	1. Chapter 1

Grimmchild kept a watchful eye on the winding paths. This place was dangerous, there were far too many monsters popping up out of the ground, and he had to keep an eye out to protect Ghost.

He spat another burst of flame, finally destroying another one of the creepy things, and spun around to find where Ghost had run off to.

For a second, he thought he’d seen a familiar face in the shadows, but then it ducked out of sight. He played it off as a trick of the light and flew back to Ghost’s side.

They continued to head deeper into the tunnels, until the ground crumbled, sending Ghost right into a pit of spikes. They jumped out and took the stance that Grimmchild recognized as healing. He swiveled his head, searching for any enemies that might try to attack.

This time there was no denying that familiar form hidden in the shadows.

“Papa~!” Grimmchild trilled, delighted. The Nightmare King didn’t argue, just as interested by the idea that perhaps the ritual didn’t have to end with the loss of his previous vessels.

He heard Ghost let out a startled squeak and start to chase after them, but at this point Grimmchild had tunnel vision. He could have his family all together again! He could hear all the stories his Papa never got to tell, they could laugh and dance and play together.

Ghost was still squeaking, trying to get his attention, but he didn’t dare turn around. Ghost could keep up. They always did.

“Papa!” He called again as Grimm finally came to a stop. Grimmchild practically threw himself onto his father in a hug, happily trilling. Grimm’s body was certainly a lot colder than he remembered- possibly because he no longer housed the Nightmare King’s flames?

It didn’t matter, he could finally... Why wasn’t Grimm returning his hug?

He heard Ghost stumble in, panting, which brought up another concern- _Why wasn’t Grimm breathing-_?

He looked up, his scarlet eyes meeting Grimm’s empty black ones. Things had to be fine. They had to be! He wanted his family back more than anything. Surely, not even Radiance could be so cruel as to do this? Grimm had to be alive and fine.

“Papa?”

There was a horrific _**CRACK**_ as Grimm’s neck snapped.

__Grimmchild let out a scream and scrambled back, cowering behind Ghost as that thing- that thing that stole his father’s form, -emerged from where it had been hiding._ _

__It was black and skeletal, a disgusting blob of the infection at its core. Radiance was cruel enough to do this, he realized as his heart sunk. She was cruel enough to guide her infected creatures to steal his own father’s body..._ _

__Ghost drew their nail. Instinctively, Grimmchild tugged at their arm, silently begging him not to._ _

__Ghost patted him on the head, quickly signing, “It’ll be okay.”_ _

__How could anything be okay? Grimmchild shook as he watched Ghost charge into battle. He stayed rooted in place, unable to do anything other than watch._ _

__Until Ghost got the mimic staggered. They raised their nail, aiming straight for the eye._ _

__Something took hold of Grimmchild, some hope that maybe this was just some misunderstanding, maybe Grimm was still alive._ _

__He threw himself in the way of the nail, his cries mingling with Ghost’s own terrified ones. He felt the cool metal slice through him, accompanied by a sharp burst of pain._ _

__He gasped in one, final breath._ _

__“Papa... Why?”_ _

_Why couldn’t we be a family again?_


	2. Chapter 2

No- no! No, no, no, no! This wasn’t supposed to happen! Grimmchild wasn’t, Grimmchild _couldn’t_ be dead-

The Nosk was starting to get up. Ghost raised their Pure Nail, easily severing the neck from the body. It kept twitching for a few more seconds, the orange of the infection staining the dark ground.

They turned away and scooped up Grimmchild. If they had the ability, they would have cried.

Maybe- maybe they could do something. Maybe the Nightmare King would have a solution?

The soft glow of the Dream Nail illuminated the damage. Ghost winced. Perhaps if their nail wasn’t so deadly, Grimmchild wouldn’t be dying...

The world melted into a familiar, scarlet stage. It was crumbling, bits of it crashing through the floor and disappearing into the endless expanse of the dream realm. The Nightmare Heart didn’t seem to be beating anymore.

Ghost sprang into the seating area, trying not to jostle Grimmchild’s cooling body. They approached the Nightmare King, a question written across their expressionless mask.

_Can you help?_

“I think this might be past my ability to fix, little shadow.” The Nightmare King admitted. “A dream can only have so much power over reality.”

Frustrated, Ghost stomped their feet and let out the best growl they could. Throwing a tantrum was childish, yes, but Grimmchild was dying!

_Please, you HAVE to at least try!_

There was a long moment of silence, more of the stage crumbling away around them. “...There may be a way.” Ghost perked up hopefully, clutching tighter to Grimmchild. “If destroyed, the Nightmare Heart can... move back, I suppose, to the previous host. I don’t know if that will heal Grimmchild, but it’s worth a try.”

All they had to do was destroy the Heart? If they did that, Grimmchild might be okay? Easy.

Ghost shifted their grip to hold Grimmchild in one arm, and grabbed their nail. A hand closed around their arm, preventing them from going forward with their attack.

They looked at the Nightmare King, feeling confused and a little hurt. “It will destroy whoever destroys it. Lend me your nail. Let me destroy it.”

Ghost nodded in understanding and stabbed the nail into the ground, clumsily signing “Thank you” as best as they could with only one free hand.

There was another long pause, then the King turned away, avoiding their gaze. “Little shadow, I... I am not very brave. It seems silly, considering I rule over terror, but when my sister turned against Hallownest, I ran away.” He picked up the nail and looked towards the Heart. “But I would do anything for my vessels.”

The floor beneath Ghost fell away, throwing them into the abyss of the dream world. There was an explosion of flame above them, and the dream faded.

They were back on the cold, stone ground, their nail planted in the ground next to them. Hurriedly, they stumbled to their feet and went to check on Grimmchild.

The wound was gone, with no trace that it had ever existed. Ghost picked him up and gave him a tight squeeze. Grimmchild woke up and seemed very confused, but accepted the affection anyway. His eyes were coal black again.

And then the corpse on the ground next to them stirred. They both froze, expecting Nosk to be coming back to life.

Instead, Grimm got to his feet, glanced down at the dead Nosk, and promptly let out a startled “NYAH” and jumped about a foot in the air.

Ghost shook with silent laughter, all the stress and tension that the day had brought finally leaving. Things were going to be okay.

“Papa!” Grimmchild shrieked ecstatically, leaping out of Ghost’s grip to cling to Grimm.

Both of them had black eyes, Ghost realized. There was no sign of scarlet, which had to mean the Ritual was over. Done. No more invisible chains, just family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, I made it happy! Happier. It’s a little bittersweet but good enough right???

**Author's Note:**

> ...I’ll see myself out now. (Sorry if there were any errors in the writing or formatting, I threw this together on mobile in a few hours.)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Down and Down Into the Ruins I Go, To Lose My Mind and Find My Soul](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19751317) by [ThatDarnLakeSiren](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDarnLakeSiren/pseuds/ThatDarnLakeSiren)




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